A secret of the exploitation of the Amazon rainforest has been exposed

Sloths are suffering for selfies0:44

Getting a selfie with an animal is one of the great rewards of travel, right? Well unfortunately that reward can come at extreme cost for the animals. World Animal Protection are calling for tighter guidelines around the ways tourists interact with animals.

The Amazio rainforest has been holding a dark secret which has finally been uncovered.Source:Supplied

IT’S known for its wondrous, lush landscape, crisscrossed with thousands of rivers and inked with remnants of communities and species that have stretched through time.

The importance of the Amazon rainforest to our planet is no joke — it is the only rainforest left in terms of size, which is critical to filter and reprocess the world’s carbon dioxide output.

And while the Amazon rainforest is no stranger to the threat of mankind, an undercover investigation has revealed some of the foulest abuses seen yet — and Australians are at the top of the hit list.

Two of the Amazon rainforest’s main gateway cities have come under fire for allowing tourists and local Latin American tour operators to abuse the area’s wildlife population: Manaus, Brazil and Puerto Alegria, Peru.

Manaus, the capital of the Amazonas, the largest state in Brazil, with a land mass of 1.6 kilometres. An incredible 77 per cent of the rainforest still remains intact today.

Some of the Amazon’s animals have been recorded tied to trees, others suffer severe abscesses on their feet while one is manhandled and beaten by its owner.

And Australians are reportedly the worst at abusing animals for our Instagram feed — Australia has the highest concentration (35 per cent) of wildlife selfies according to social listening research commissioned by World Animal Protection (WAP).

We even beat the Americans, at 27 per cent, followed by the British at 10 per cent.

In footage released to news.com.au, the WAP captured a tour guide spotting a sloth in a tree, climbing the tree, yanking the animal from a branch and bringing it down for tourists to photograph. It is said to be a common practice in the region.

A tour operator is filmed yanking a sloth out of the top of a tree.Source:Supplied

The tourists, who were waiting in a boat, reach to hold the wild sloth.Source:Supplied

For sloths, their slow movement, which is used by the animal to conserve energy, means escape is futile.

“Several aspects of their biology and behaviour make sloths particularly vulnerable to these types of human interactions,” the WAP’s report, A close-up on cruelty, said.

“There is good reason to believe that most sloths being used for tourist selfies don’t survive even six months of this treatment.”

According to the WAP, contact with the three-toed sloth was only surpassed by the pink river dolphin for physical human contact, followed by spectacled caimans, green anacondas and squirrel monkeys.

“We chose 18 different wildlife boat excursions each lasting between one to three days, which ranged in price from about US$48 (A$61) to US$112 (A$142) per day. The numbers of tourists participating in each tour varied from six to 61,” the WAP recorded.

“Direct contact with wild animals for photo opportunities were offered on 94 per cent of excursions, at six different locations. Official tour guides actively encouraged this type of activity during 77 per cent of excursions.”

Some of the sloths are even dressed up.Source:Supplied

According to the report, in public view and behind the scenes, investigators uncovered evidence of cruelty being inflicted on wild animals, including:

— Sloths captured from the wild, tied to trees with rope, not surviving longer than six months

— Birds such as toucans with severe abscesses on their feet

— Green anacondas wounded and dehydrated

— Caiman crocodiles restrained with rubber bands around their jaws

— An ocelot (a type of wild cat) kept in a small barren cage

— A manatee held in a tiny tank in the forecourt of a local hotel

— A giant anteater, manhandled and beaten by its owner.

Pink dolphin communities ruined by tourism.Source:Supplied

“It’s extremely distressing to see animals being stolen from the wild and used as photo props,” Global Wildlife Advisor, Dr Neil D’Cruze from World Animal Protection said.

“The reality is these unfortunate animals are suffering terribly, both in front of and behind the camera.

“The growing demand for harmful wildlife selfies is not only a serious animal welfare concern but also a conservation concern — our online review of this kind of practice in Latin America found that more than 20 per cent of the species involved are threatened by extinction and more than 60 per cent are protected by international law.”

WAP is calling on the relevant governments, along with Instagram and travel companies, to band together, enforce the law and help to stop the exploitation of these animals.